The present invention relates generally to a scanner and, more particularly, to a multi-purpose scanner that can be integrated into a computer.
With the significant increase in the use of different types of scanners, we need a multi-purpose scanner that takes up minimal amount of space.
For years, the most important computer peripheral device has been a printer. Almost everyone with a computer also uses a printer. This may be because most people are more comfortable reading from paper than from a computer screen. Thus, the proliferation of computers, instead of moving us to a paperless society, has created even more paper than before. With so much paper to deal with, many of us have experienced the problems of losing documents or forgetting where we filed them.
One way to solve these problems is to scan at least the important documents into our computer. Then we can perform computer searches, which are much faster and easier than looking everywhere in our office or our home. Such increased uses of scanners may explain why scanners appear to be second to printers in terms of sales volume for computer peripheral devices.
Not only do we need a scanner, we typically need different types of scanners for different applications. When we are working in an office, a stand-alone desktop scanner satisfies most of our needs. If we are traveling, we prefer a portable or, even better, a handheld scanner. Thus, we should have access to at least a desktop and a handheld scanner. However scanners are typically designed for functional and not artistic reasons. It is difficult to organize a number of such scanners in an office without disrupting the decor of the office.
Thus, we need a multi-purpose scanner that occupies minimal amount of space.